Cigarette may have caused blaze death

9:27am Friday 23rd February 2007

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AN alcoholic who died in a house fire started by a candle or cigarette was found to have drunk the equivalent of 16 pints of strong lager, an inquest heard.

Christopher Derbyshire, 49, was living in a property in Silver Street, Warminster, when he suffered severe burns in a blaze that engulfed his bedroom on May 24 last year.

The inquest in Salisbury on Thursday heard that a post-mortem examination found Mr Derbyshire had 364mg of alcohol per 100mg of blood, a level strong enough to have made him deeply unconscious so he was probably unaware of the fire.

Mr Derbyshire, who had a history of drug as well as alcohol problems, had been living in the house, which was in a state of disrepair and had the electricity cut off, with a number of other people who were not paying rent.

Smoke alarms had been disconnected, and the occupants relied on butane gas for heating and cooking and candles for light because there was no electricity.

Although no rent was being paid he was not squatting as he had permission from the owner, Nicholas Adams to live there.

Paul Sanderson, who also lived at the address in Silver Street, and was in bed when the fire broke out, said he tried to rescue Mr Derbyshire from the blaze.

He said: "I woke up because I could smell something and I could see that smoke was rising down the corridor above my head.

"I went down to Chris's room and could see the smoke was coming from around the door and keyhole and the door was locked so I started screaming for Stocker (another housemate).

"I kicked the door in, but once I got in and made two steps into the room, the smoke was that thick and the temperature that hot, I could not get in and I managed to crawl out."

The fire and rescue service arrived at the scene shortly after 12.30am and quickly established Mr Derbyshire was beyond help.

Ian Rennie, a community safety manager with Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "A candle holder was found under the debris. It (the cause of the fire) could have been either a candle or a cigarette, but I've had more experience of people dropping cigarettes on to themselves."

Dr Adran Al-Badri, who carried out the post-mortem, told the inquest he believed a combination of carbon monoxide poisoning and alcohol intoxication that killed Mr Derbyshire, but the victim would not have known much about it.

He said: "He was burned after he died or was very deeply unconscious and would not have felt anything."

Coroner David Masters recorded a verdict of accidental death.